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How to make your ballet shoes less slippery

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For our series Ask A Dance Teacher, we asked ballet teacher Johanna Hadley some common questions about ballet training.

Our question was, “How can we make our ballet shoes less slippery?”

Watch our video and find out:.

How to make your ballet shoes less slippery

Check your dance floor

If you are struggling with slippery ballet shoes the first thing I would recommend that you do is to check the flooring that you're dancing on. I've normally found that it's not actually the shoes that are causing the problem but the flooring. So check for things like, is the flooring clean or does it have a layer of dust and dirt on it. Or is it a highly polished floor, because all of these are going to make your ballet shoes feel a lot more slippery.

Dampen the sole of your ballet shoes

For the next two methods I would recommend speaking with your dance teacher first, because they can damage flooring especially if you've got specialist dance flooring in your room. So do check these methods with your dance teacher. I found these next two to be very useful. My first suggestion that I have for making your ballet shoes less slippery is to actually dampen the sole of your ballet shoes. Now we don't want the shoe to get wet, it's just the sole of the shoe here that we're wanting to dampen. The best way to do this is to use a paper towel. Just a damp paper towel and you can either wipe it on the sole and the heel of the shoe, or if you pop it on the floor and step on it, it will make the sole of the shoe a darker colour. It really does make a huge difference for just giving that little bit more stick to your shoe as you're dancing. Just be aware that as soon as it dries out, it will go back to being slippery again.

Use rosin to help reduce slippery shoes

My final suggestion for making ballet shoes less slippery is to use rosin. Now this is something that has been used for many years by ballet dancers it's used particularly for point shoes, especially when dancing on modern floors. But it's also really good for flat ballet shoes. Now as I did mention earlier on in the video, do check with your dance teacher because if you have a specific dance flooring you can't use rosin on those floorings. This would only be ideal if it's say like a wooden flooring. You can either buy rosin like a ready crushed form. Get a little tray, sprinkle some rosin in it and then you can just step in it. It does create a little bit of a cracking sound but it creates a much more resistance underneath the shoe. Just be careful you don't put too much on because it can also then go to the other way where you can actually start getting stuck as you're dancing. Alternatively you can just get it in a solid block form like you would use for a violin. Crush it up yourself and put it in a tray as before. 

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Hello and welcome to the Dancewear Central  series, Ask a dance teacher. I'm Johanna Hadley  and I'm a fully qualified ballet teacher  with the Imperial Society of Teachers of  Dancing (ISTD). Today we're going to talk about  how you can make your ballet shoes less slippery.  If you are struggling with slippery ballet shoes  the first thing I would recommend that you do  is to check the flooring that you're dancing  on. I've normally found that it's not actually  the shoes that are causing the problem but  the flooring. So check for things like,  is the flooring clean or does it have a layer of  dust and dirt on it. Or is it a highly polished  floor, because all of these are going to make  your ballet shoes feel a lot more slippery.For the next two methods I would recommend  speaking with your dance teacher first,  because they can damage flooring especially if  you've got specialist dance flooring in your room.  So do check these methods with your dance  teacher. I found these next two to be very useful.  My first suggestion that I have for making your  ballet shoes less slippery is to actually dampen  the sole of your ballet shoes. Now we don't want  the shoe to get wet, it's just the sole of the  shoe here that we're wanting to dampen. The best  way to do this is to use a paper towel. Just a  damp paper towel and you can either wipe it on the  sole and the heel of the shoe, or if you pop it on  the floor and step on it, t will make the sole  of the shoe a darker colour. It really does make  a huge difference for just giving that little  bit more stick to your shoe as you're dancing.  Just be aware that as soon as it dries out,  it will go back to being slippery again.  My final suggestion for making ballet shoes less  slippery is to use rosin. Now this is something  that has been used for many years by ballet  dancers it's used particularly for point shoes,  especially when dancing on modern floors. But it's  also really good for flat ballet shoes. Now as I  did mention earlier on in the video, do check with  your dance teacher because if you have a specific  dance flooring you can't use rosin on those  floorings. This would only be ideal if it's say  like a wooden flooring. You can either buy rosin  like a ready crushed form. Get a little tray,  sprinkle some rosin in it and then you can  just step in it. It does create a little bit  of a cracking sound but it creates a much more  resistance underneath the shoe. Just be careful  you don't put too much on because it can also then  go to the other way where you can actually start  getting stuck as you're dancing. Alternatively  you can just get it in a solid block form like  you would use for a violin. Crush it up  yourself and put it in a tray as before.  For more hints and tips subscribe to  the Dancewear Central Youtube channel.0:20:11